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CAROL FEENEY: Attention logophiles!

In doing some research for this week’s article, I came across some terminology for people who love words or those who love books as this column will be of interest to them. According to Emily Brewster of Merriam-Webster Learnersdictionary.com, the word for someone who loves words is logophile (pronounced log-uh-file). It comes from two Greek roots – logos – meaning “speech, word, reason” and philos meaning “dear, friendly’ in its noun combining form phile which means “someone who likes something very much.”

Most of us are familiar with the term Bookworm as someone who is a lover of books but they are also called Bibliophiles from the Greek word biblio (book). Anyway, whether you are a logophile or a bibliophile you will have the opportunity to enjoy a number of events this weekend.

The Belleville Public Library will be hosting a local author panel on Saturday, April 22 at 11 a.m., featuring Dan Buchanan, a nonfiction writer, Janet Kellough, a mystery author, Robin Timmerman, a mystery author, Melanie Dugan, a fiction writer, and Anne Shmelzer, a fiction author. They will be answering questions like “how do you come up with your plots?”, “how do you find an agent?”, and much more This is a great opportunity to learn about the writing, publishing, and marketing process. Authors will be selling their books and there is no registration is required for this free event. For more information call 613-968-6731 x2237.

Hastings County Historical Society also has an event tomorrow with a presentation by author, Jane Simpson, speaking briefly on the research that went into her new book, “Soldier, Settler, Sinner: The Amazing Journey of Charles MacDonald.” MacDonald was Point Anne’s first settler. The HCHS is the publisher and is launching the book April 22 in the Manly MacDonald Gallery at the Belleville Public Library, 254 Pinnacle Street, Belleville, beginning at 1:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend this meet and greet which includes light refreshments. For more information go to www.hastingshistory.ca

On now and running until tomorrow night is the Prince Edward County Authors Festival, an annual celebration of writers, readers and the written word in Picton. Tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. is Invisible Night @ Lipson Room, upstairs at Books & Company moderated by Leigh Nash with Andrew Forbes and Michelle Winters.

Forbes was born in Ottawa, Ontario and attended Carleton University. He has written film and music criticism, liner notes, sports columns, and short fiction. His work has been nominated for the Journey Prize, and has appeared in publications including VICE Sports, The Classical, The New Quarterly, and This Magazine. What You Need, his debut collection of fiction, was published by Invisible Publishing in 2015.

Michelle Winters is a writer, painter, and translator from Saint John, N.B. She was nominated for the 2011 Journey Prize and her work has been published in THIS Magazine, Dragnet and Taddle Creek. She is the co-translator of My Planet of Kites, by Marie-Ève Comtois. She lives in Toronto. I Am a Truck is her debut novel.

Saturday there is a full day of events in the Lipson Room narrated by David Sweet and beginning with Poetry in the Morning at 10 to 11 a.m. featuring Jim Nason and Zoe Whittall. Nason’s award-winning poems, essays, and stories have been published in literary journals and anthologies throughout the United States and Canada, including The Best Canadian Poetry in English. He is also the author of a novel, The Housekeeping Journals, and a short-story collection, The Girl on the Escalator. His latest book of poetry is Touch Anywhere to Begin.

Zoe Whittall is the author of The Best Ten Minutes of Your Life, The Emily Valentine Poems, and Precordial Thump, and the editor of Geeks, Misfits, & Outlaws. Her debut novel Bottle Rocket Hearts made the Globe and Mail Top 100 Books of the Year and CBC Canada Reads’ Top Ten Essential Novels of the Decade. Her second novel Holding Still for as Long as Possible won a Lambda Literary Award and was an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book. Born in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, she has an MFA from the University of Guelph. Her latest novel is Best Kind of People.

Next are Fiction Readings and Discussion at 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with Kirsteen MacLeod, Emily Saso and Zoe Whitall. Kirsteen is a writer, poet and yoga teacher. She has worked in Toronto (20 years) and in Kingston (10 years), as a magazine and newspaper writer and editor, and as a communicator. She has a BA in Magazine Journalism from Ryerson University. The Animal Game is her debut collection of short fiction.

Emily Saso writes fiction and screenplays and blogs at egoburn.blogspot.ca. The Weather Inside is her debut novel.

At 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. are authors Tom Rand and Merilyn Simonds. Tom is managing partner of the privately backed MaRS Cleantech Fund, and senior advisor to the MaRS Discovery District. A former entrepreneur in the global telecommunications sector, Tom now focuses his efforts on carbon mitigation as a venture capitalist, author, and speaker. His first book, Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit, was shortlisted for the White Pine non-fiction award in 2012. Waking The Frog: Solutions For Our Climate Change Paralysis is his latest book.

Simonds is the author of 16 books, including The Holding, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice; The Convict Lover, finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award; and most recently The Paradise Project, flash-fiction stories hand-printed on a hand-operated, antique press. She is founding artistic director of Kingston WritersFest and a past chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada. She teaches creative writing and mentors emerging writers around the world. Her new book, Gutenberg’s Fingerprint: Paper, Pixels and the Lasting Impression of Books will be released this spring.

Next are Mystery Readings and Discussion from 2:45 to 3:45 p.m. with Steve Burrows and Joy Fielding. Steve has pursued his birdwatching hobby on five continents. He is a former editor of the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society Magazine and a contributing field editor for Asian Geographic. The first book in the Birder Murder Mystery series, A Siege of Bitterns, won the Crime Writers of Canada 2015 Award for Best First Novel. His latest novel in the series is A Cast of Falcons.

Joy Fielding was born in Canada in 1945. She received a BA in English literature from the University of Toronto in 1966. Her first book, The Best of Friends, was published without an agent. She has written numerous novels since then including Don’t Cry Now, The Deep End, The Other Woman, Missing Pieces and Now You See Her. The Periodical Distributors of Canada named her book, Kiss Mommy Goodbye, Book of the Year for 1982. She has contributed book reviews to the Toronto Globe and Mail, CBC’s The Radio Show, and CBC-TV’s The Journal’s Friday Night. Her books, See Jane Run and Tell Me No Secrets, have been adapted into films. She’s Not There is her latest novel.

The Festival winds up with the Novels & Nosh at The Bridge at 6 p.m. This is a fundraiser including a full-course meal prepared by Michael Hoy. For details check www.pecauthorfest.com, call Books & Co. in Picton at 613-476-3037, or find the Festival on Facebook.